By T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., with Thomas M. Campbell II
When people hear of scientific information that calls for a radical
shift in eating habits, they often react with tremendous skepticism.
“We hear one thing one day, and exactly the opposite the next,”
they say.
The fact is, there are powerful
industries that stand to lose a vast amount of money if Americans
start shifting to a plant-based diet. |
I understand their confusion. More than 40 years ago, at the beginning
of my scientific career, I would have never guessed that food is
so closely related to health problems. On the dairy farm where I
grew up, my family often started the day with a big country breakfast
of eggs, bacon, sausage, fried potatoes, and ham—all washed
down with a couple of glasses of whole milk.
A lot has changed since then. Over decades of nutrition research,
I’ve come to take a very different view of many foods I once
cherished, including meat and dairy products. These lessons came
in my work as director of the China Health Study, which The
New York Times dubbed “the most comprehensive large study
ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of
developing disease.”
My fellow researchers and I determined that plant-based diets are
the main reason there are such low rates of heart disease, diabetes,
and cancer in certain areas of rural China. In contrast, even small
amounts of animal protein-based foods increase the risk of many
diseases.
Why hasn’t this important news changed the behavior of most
Americans? Why are so many people still eating meals full of artery-clogging
eggs, bacon, and sausage? The answer, I believe, lies in how information
is created and how it reaches the public.
Because I have been behind the scenes, conducting and reviewing
the research that generates health information for more than four
decades, I have seen what really goes on. The fact is, there are
powerful industries that stand to lose a vast amount of money if
Americans start shifting to a plant-based diet. These companies
do everything in their power to protect their profits—and
that means controlling what the public knows about nutrition and
health.
You might think that industry bribes government officials or pays
scientists under the table to “cook the data.” But these
powerful interests do not usually conduct illegal business. The
problems are much more subtle—and much more dangerous. Here
are just a few examples:
- The National Dairy Council and the American Meat Institute
have retained prominent scientists to monitor—in effect
spy on—research projects that might reduce the demand for
meat or dairy products.
- The Food and Nutrition Board, an expert panel affiliated with
the Institute of Medicine, took funding from M&M Mars Candy
Company and a consortium of soft drink companies—and then
issued a recommendation that a healthy diet can include as much
as 25 percent of calories from added sugar.
- In 2004, the dairy industry began using pictures of celebrity
players from the National Football League on cafeteria posters
promoting cheese and milk. These materials reach millions of school
children, even though dairy foods are now being shown to have
many adverse health effects that can last a lifetime.
Most of the confusion about nutrition is created in legal ways
and spread by well-intentioned people, whether they are researchers,
politicians, or journalists. The entire system—government,
science, medicine, industry, and media—promotes profits over
health, technology over good science, and confusion over clarity.
Every year, some new product—from vitamin pills to fish oil—is
touted as the key to good health. The “health” sections
of grocery stores are often stocked more with supplements and special
preparations of seemingly magic ingredients than they are with real
food. And fad diets, such as the spate of low-carb regimens, come
and go.
All this confusion is fueled by narrowly focused studies (often
funded or substantially influenced by industry) that are used as
marketing tools for certain products.
But the most momentous discoveries in health and nutrition of the
past century have not focused on a pill or a fad diet. They have
shown how a diet based on the simplest and most natural of foods—whole
vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes—can do what the most
powerful tools of medical science cannot: prevent many cases of
cancer and stop heart disease in its tracks.
That’s something I wish my family had known when I was growing
up. If we had, my father could have prevented the heart disease
that killed him and the colon cancer that cut short the life of
my wife’s mother.
It is more urgent than ever to show people how to avoid such tragedies.
The science is there, and it must be made known. In many cases,
the evidence is decades old. We cannot let confusion go unchallenged
and watch our loved ones suffer. It is time to stand up, clear the
air, and take control of our health.
 T.
Colin Campbell, Ph.D., is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus
of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University. He is a member
of the advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine. A 1999 graduate of Cornell University, Thomas Campbell
is a writer, actor, and two-time marathon runner.
Media
Center | Health | Research
| About PCRM | Catalog
| Join Us | Search
| Site Index | Home
The site does
not provide medical or legal advice. This Web site is for information purposes
only.
Full Disclaimer | Privacy Policy
|
